Miss your pampering hot springs in Taiwan or Japan? You can get a local version of hot spring right off Gambas Avenue at Sembawang Hot Spring Park. After the hot spring spot gained fame, the good folks at National Parks created a beautiful park around it and installed cascading pools, hot spring water collection point, educational panels where you can learn about Singapore’s only hot spring park’s history and geology and even an area to cook eggs. With the recent launch of SingapoRediscovers, my cousins and I decided to visit and experience the hype ourselves.
If you are driving there like us, you will need to park your vehicle at the open-air car park at Block 114 Yishun Ring Road and walk over. Once you cross the road towards Gambas Avenue, you will likely see a constant trail of people with large water containers and buckets, just follow them and you should reach the entrance of the park. The path in will see you wandering through the Floral Walk where you will see fruit trees and edible plants commonly found in kampungs, and flowers commonly seen in the 1960s and 1990s.
The scenery that greeted us at the end of the trail was surprisingly charming. The rustic set up was nicely put together and there were even streams flowing from the hot spring. You can also learn more about the history of the site and geothermal processes behind the formation of a hot spring through interpretative signs at locations of interest.
Just a short walk down, the tranquil scene changed to a bustling hub of activities with the man-made water structure as the epicentre.
The water feature actually directs hot natural spring water from the ground through the main spurt and channels the hot water to troughs at the lower tiers before it reaches the footbath area.
The point where the water first appears will be the hottest at 70-degree celsius. As it slowly flows downwards to the lower tiers, the water temperature starts to drop gradually. By the time it reaches the lowest tier which is the footbath trough, it is at a more acceptable 40-degree celsius.
As we visited during the pandemic period, safe management measures were in place to ensure the footbath area was not overcrowded. Safe distancing was also observed from queuing for entry to sitting within the footbath area.
When it was finally our turn to dip into the water, we were surprised how so many of the aunties and uncles could leisurely endure the hot spring water at 40-degree celsius. It took us a while to get used to the heat and immerse both our feet into the water but we only managed to last for last than 5 minutes. Kudos to them.
Next, we went to check out the fringe activities. If you brought eggs and containers with you, you are in luck!
You can cook hard-boiled eggs and enjoy the supposedly health benefits from the hot spring water.
Overall, we really enjoyed our evening stroll and short hot spring water dip at Sembawang Hot Spring Park. If you have yet to visit our only hot spring in Singapore, this is worth a visit as you explore Singapore. Do bring along eggs, containers to cook them in, condiments, a small container to have your own footbath by the side and additional containers if you want to bring spring water home for your loved ones. Have fun, stay safe and remember not to hoard the footbath area too long (if you are good with the heat).
